title: Dietary supplements and medical foods for osteopenia and osteoporosis.
abstract: Dietary supplements, medical foods, and pharmaceutical agents are all used in the management of metabolic bone disease. The intended populations, governing regulations, safety standards scientific requirements, physician supervision, and distribution vary markedly between supplements, medical foods, and drugs. This article will review characteristics of dietary supplements and medical foods and their use in osteoporosis care. A study that compares the pharmacokinetics of a supplement and a medical food containing similar ingredients is used to contrast the categories of dietary supplements and medical foods.
authors.affiliation: UAB Osteoporosis Prevention and Treatment Clinic and DXA Service, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA and Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA. Electronic address: slmorgan@uab.edu.
authors.forename: Sarah L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Morgan
mesh_terms: D001851:Bone Diseases, Metabolic / Q000628:therapy; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D005526:Food, Formulated; D006801:Humans; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: Dietary supplement; medical food; osteoporosis